Ken Norton

Executive coaching for product leaders

Your role just got harder

Stop tweaking and start transforming

Work with me

A few short questions, then we’ll set up a call.

Ken Norton

Tap Into Your Strengths

Increase Your Leadership Capacity

Become A Conscious Leader

“Ken’s never going to get rid of me as a client.

Working with him has been transformational. I’m finally clear about my goals and values, more satisfied in my role, and more present in my life.”

Kirk Miles

Kirk Miles

SVP & GM of AI at Asana

Climb this high and it’s easy to get dizzy

Being the most senior product leader is different — and often disorienting. At other stages in your career, you could follow rules set by someone else. Now it’s up to you. The world is complex, your job is complex, and it’s harder to keep up than ever. If your internal operating system doesn’t grow and change to meet these challenges, you’ll stagnate or stall.

Do any of these common internal struggles sound familiar?
  • A sense of increasing pressure
  • Second-guessing yourself
  • Feeling lonely or isolated in your role
  • Decision paralysis
  • Doubting you deserve your position
  • Intensity you don’t know how to cope with
  • Wondering if you’re up to the task at hand
  • Feeling like you’re checking boxes and chasing carrots without really knowing what you’re solving for
Best Books for Product Managers [2026]

Best Books for Product Managers [2026]

Essential product management reading

The Art of Product Management

The Art of Product Management

Why and How to Develop the Essential Human Skills

It’s Time to Fight for a Dual Product Management Career Path

It’s Time to Fight for a Dual Product Management Career Path

Companies should embrace multitrack job ladders for product managers who prefer product leadership to people management

Building Products at Stripe

Building Products at Stripe

Go deep, move fast, and build multi-decade abstractions

How to Hire a Product Manager

How to Hire a Product Manager: the Classic Essay

The classic essay that defined the product manager role

The Tools Don’t Matter

The Tools Don’t Matter

Why are product managers so obsessed with frameworks and tools?

Ants & Aliens: Long-Term Product Vision & Strategy

Ants & Aliens: Long-Term Product Vision & Strategy

Why you need a thirty-year product vision (yes, thirty)

Please Make Yourself Uncomfortable

Please Make Yourself Uncomfortable: Jazz and PMs

What product managers can learn from jazz musicians

Product Manager Zero

PM Zero: When to Hire the First Product Manager?

When should you hire your first PM?

“I love having Ken in my corner rooting for me. He’s like my professional big brother or uncle.

I reached out to him because my new role as the most senior product leader in the company was pressure-testing me in a way I’ve never encountered before. It felt lonely and I knew I needed to become a better version of myself. These days, I actually look forward to the emotional ups and downs I experience in my role, because I know I’m going to generate a meaningful insight working through that emotion with Ken.”

Amit Rozeman

Amit Rozeman

VP Product & E-Commerce at Whole Foods Market

You deserve an ally in your corner

It’s not you. This is hard. And as the saying goes, What got you here won’t get you there. To thrive in a new or growing role, you’re going to need support to become a more fully expressed version of yourself.

  • Become a creative, visionary, conscious executive
  • Improve your communication and self-awareness
  • Develop your emotional intelligence
  • Transcend fear and ego and operate from presence and vision
  • Build a world-class team and deliver winning products
  • Connect with your authentic values and sense of purpose

“Working with Ken has changed the way I approach not only my job, but my personal relationships.

When I was promoted to VP, I experienced a bit of an existential crisis. I questioned my abilities and whether I deserved to be in that role. Ken’s helped me build confidence, recognize my unique strengths, and internalize that I deserve my job. He’s able to push me, and also be in my corner.”

Kate Estep

Kate Estep

Chief Product Officer at Flatiron Health

Ken Norton Ken Norton Ken Norton

I get it. I’ve been there.

I’m Ken Norton, an executive coach specializing in guiding senior product and technology leaders through the complexities of leadership in high-growth environments. With over 14 years at Google, I led product initiatives for Google Docs, Calendar, and Mobile Maps, reaching over three billion users worldwide. I also supported and coached startup founders and leaders at GV (Google Ventures). I’ve trained extensively as a coach, and am credentialed by the International Coaching Federation and certified by the Co-Active Training Institute.

I believe the best leaders aren’t just strategic thinkers and execution machines. Great leaders are self-aware, emotionally intelligent, and can navigate complexity with clarity and courage. My coaching focuses on three powerful lenses: emotional intelligence, conscious leadership, and 10x thinking.

I work with Chief Product Officers, Founders, CEOs, and other product leaders at companies of all shapes and sizes, from early stage pre-seed startup to publicly-traded household names. I’ve coached hundreds of leaders, including executives from these top companies.

Lenny’s Podcast logo

Ken Norton on Lenny’s Podcast

To learn more about my coaching approach and leadership philosophy, check out my conversation with Lenny about helping product leaders break through.

Read more »
Outpace Top Coaches Badge

Top Product Leadership Coach

Ken was named the #1 product leadership coach in the world by Outpace, Reforge, On Deck, and Products By Women.

“Ken’s coaching improves the quality of the decisions I make.

He has a deep understanding of how product-minded individuals think, which was crucial for me. It’s like working with an incredible Zen product leader who knows how to ask the right questions to get me to the right answers. He’s helped me gain clarity and confidence in taking action instead of feeling paralyzed by choices.”

Dennis Xu

Dennis Xu

Co-Founder of Mem Labs and Adaptive

My Coaching Philosophy

I believe the best leaders aren’t just strategic thinkers and execution machines. Great leaders are self-aware, emotionally intelligent, and can navigate complexity with a deep understanding of themselves. These human-centric skills are becoming even more essential in a world dominated by AI. My coaching is shaped by three powerful themes.

10x Thinking

Too many smart leaders get stuck in growth plateaus where they are simply tweaking rather than transforming. I will challenge you to think bigger: What’s the bold move you’ve been avoiding? What if you could be even more than you imagined? I don’t believe that 10x Thinking requires hustle culture, “996,” or burning your people out. 10x can activate your imagination and help your teams create bold outcomes that match your values and purpose.

Conscious Leadership

Like our ancestors, we’re constantly scanning our environment for threats. It’s human to slip into blame, control, or defensiveness in high-pressure situations. And it’s natural to believe the world is out to get you. Indeed, this is how most leaders operate most of the time. I will help you recognize when you’re leading from this threatened state. You’ll learn to shift back into presence, responsibility, and curiosity. You won’t be perfect all the time, because you’re human. But you can choose how you lead, rather than being captured by old habits and unconscious belief systems.

Emotional Intelligence

Leadership isn’t just the doing, it’s also the being, and self-awareness is your foundation. I will help you notice your patterns, understand what’s really driving you (and others), and build the emotional range to lead with purpose and vision rather than reactivity. You can’t scale your leadership if you don’t know yourself first. Let me work with you to gain this awareness.

Get a product-minded executive coach in your corner to unlock your full capacities as a leader